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At large ... Reports from Kuwaiti authorities vary, but it’s understood the two wanted Australians are on the run.
TWO Lebanese-Australians are being sought by Kuwaiti authorities for allegedly being part of an Islamic State terror cell that was dismantled in the Gulf state at the weekend.
Kuwaiti media have reported that five people have been arrested for supplying the Islamic State in Syria with weapons, money and recruits, but the two Lebanese-Australians are yet to be apprehended.
They have been named as Hesham Mohammad Thahab and Rabia Thahab. Their ages and genders are not given.
Caught ... Five members of the cell have been apprehended.Source:Supplied
It is not clear where Kuwaiti authorities believe they are currently located, but their names were given up by the cell’s ringleader, Osama Khayat, who allegedly confessed to being behind an operation to supply arms out of the Ukraine to ISIS in Syria.
The Australian Federal Police and the Australian Crime Commission referred inquiries about the Lebanese-Australians to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
DFAT issued this statement: “The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is seeking to confirm reports that two Australians have been arrested in Kuwait. The Australian Embassy in Kuwait is engaging with the Kuwaiti authorities.â€
Wanted ... The Australians are believed to be pictured among this group of photographs.Source:Supplied
They have been named as Hesham Mohammad Thahab and Rabia Thahab.Source:Supplied
However, this was inconsistent with reports from the official Kuwait News Agency, known as Kuna, which said that four members of the cell, including the Lebanese-Australians, were “still at large abroadâ€.
The Kuna news report claims the cell had been planning to shift Chinese-made FN-6 air-defence systems from the Ukraine via Turkey and into Syria.
ISIS cell ... The group had been planning to shift Chinese-made FN-6 air-defence systems from the Ukraine via Turkey and into SyriaSource:Supplied
However, the Kuwaiti report is confusing in its detail about the precise number of arrests.
It says along with the two Australian-Lebanese, authorities were also hunting two Syrian nationals, one who worked as a currency trader on the Turkish border and the other in charge of “financial mattersâ€.